It is widely reported to be one of the most significant cases on
homelessness to reach the Supreme Court in decades, perhaps ever.
SPLC attorney attends arguments in historic Supreme Court homelessness
case
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Kirsten Anderson Read the full piece here
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Friend,
It is 5 a.m. on Monday, April 22, when I arrive at the U.S. Supreme
Court.
I see dozens of people with sleeping bags and blankets already lined
up for the chance to attend oral arguments scheduled to begin at 10
a.m. Many of them will not be able to get into the limited public
seating despite camping overnight in the cold. As a member of the
Supreme Court bar, I join a much smaller line reserved for lawyers
admitted to practice before the court. I am privileged to enter when
the doors open at 9 a.m.
The case we are all here to see is Johnson v. City of Grants Pass
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. It is widely reported to be one of the most significant cases on
homelessness to reach the Supreme Court in decades, perhaps ever. Yet
here we are, at the highest court in the land, and the issue that we
are arguing over is whether it is unlawful to punish people because
they are homeless and have no choice but to sleep outside.
That's what the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, is doing with its
public camping ordinance, which bans sleeping outdoors with a covering
such as a blanket. The court will decide whether it is cruel and
unusual punishment - a violation of the Eighth Amendment -
to fine and jail people experiencing homelessness for doing so when
they have no alternative.
The lower courts, where the city has lost, believe the constitutional
prohibition against status crimes extends to laws like the one in
Grants Pass, which is punishing the status of homelessness.
The Southern Poverty Law Center agrees with the lower courts. We
joined other nonprofit poverty law organizations to file an amicus
brief
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- also known as a "friend-of-the-court brief"
- before the court in support of the plaintiffs. People without
housing have no choice but to violate laws prohibiting sleeping
outdoors. We also urged the court to reject the city's reliance
on the history of vagrancy laws to justify their camping ordinance.
Vagrancy laws were used as a tool of economic and racial oppression,
particularly in the Deep South.
The oral argument
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lasts two-and-a-half hours, with the attorneys facing robust
questioning from all nine justices.
It should be clear that the criminal legal system does not have the
tools to solve the housing crisis in our country that is causing
people to sleep outdoors. Yet Theane Evangelis, the lawyer for Grants
Pass, argues to the justices that the city requires such tools to
incentivize people to accept shelter - even as she admits during
questioning that there are not sufficient shelters and services to
meet the needs of all the people experiencing homelessness in their
community.
Read More
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In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
The SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond,
working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy,
strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of
all people.
Friend, will you make a gift to help the SPLC fight for
justice and equity in courts and combat white supremacy?
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